Mandarin Madness is an educational app, for those who wish to learn native Mandarin Chinese. Learning Chinese can be pretty tough as both the pronunciations and the text is quite different from other languages. Instead of buying flash cards, users can now learn it through an arcade style game on their android and apple ( iPhone, iPad, iPod) devices .
Rather than giving extensive grammar lessons, Mandarin madness focuses on flash cards. First, the user sees flash cards dropping on the screen one at a time and a native mandarin voice pronounces the words in the background. At the bottom of the screen, meanings of the words are shown. Once the lesson cards are all done with, the app repeats only the sound. Multiple cards are shown at the bottom of the screen and the user has to tap the matching card or else hear an unappealing buzzer. Once you get all the cards right, you clear the level. There are 41 levels, which get progressively difficult. This app is available in free version as well as the paid version, which is currently on sale. The full version comes with 10 language packs and the users get a free upgrade to the next 10 language packs which are coming soon.
Mandarin madness is a fun to learn app. Unlike its name, it takes the madness out of learning a new language and makes it fun. Chinese can be very difficult to learn and might be impossible for most to learn through books or guides. Mandarin madness approaches the learning in a slightly different manner. By using flash card like graphics it builds up your vocabulary, rather than focusing on grammar or other parts of the language. Young children are taught through usage of flash cards as it makes memorizing and recalling of new words much easier. As the users are given multiple choices, they really have to dig out the words from their minds which they have learnt earlier.
All the words are categorized into different themes such as fruits, animals, etc. so that the users can familiarize themselves with a group of words from a certain category before moving on to the next one. This is extra helpful for those who might need to use some words more in context to their work or research. Despite being an educational game, it has been made quite interesting with top notch illustrations and native Chinese images in the background. The app is paced ideally which makes a user to speed up as he precedes the levels. As the game is built in arcade style, with pretty decent graphics, learning mandarin Chinese becomes fun and engaging rather than boring and tedious.
All-in-all, it’s a great game. It is designed to cater to beginners, travelers or even those who are familiar with the language but just want to brush up on their Chinese skills. It has been given 5 star ratings and was among the top selling apps in Australian app stores for education.
Must have learning app – Download for Android | Download for iOS Device
Thanks for the review!
I’m Kym, one of creators of http://mandarinmadness.com/, http://spanishsmash.com/ and now the new http://englisheruption.com/. Since your mention, we have rolled out versions for Spanish and English, and will be rolling out Japanese and French shortly!!
We’re insanely excited about what we have coming (outside the Japanese and French versions) so thank-you for being there with us from the beginning. 🙂
We also love receiving feedback from our users so if anyone has any ideas or wants to shot the breeze, feel free to email us at hello@nativetongue.com. Any suggestions received are given serious consideration by our product and development team.
Cheers everyone and best of luck with your language learning.